Mobilisation in 1991?
-
Hi, i just read there was a large scale SAF mobilisation in August 1991, pardon my ignorance..but anyone can shed some light on what promted such an event?
-
National Day...Something about another country conducting large-scale manuveores.
-
Well, actually its a miss communication thingie. You see, back then 2 neighbouring countries were supposed to be conducting their joint excercise together and apparently communications of the going-ons failed to reach our country in time so thats why they thought and we think.
There was a another case not from our country when aircraft from a US carrier were deployed and nearly had to open fire at indonesian aircraft sent to intercept them. Apparently, the US had sent word earlier that their carrier was passing thru indo waters but news had not reach in time due to admin lapses. In addition diplomatic ties back then were strained. So you can figure the rest. -
Oh...Malaysia and Indonesia huh? How was there miscommunication i wonder. Was it a silent mobilisation back in 1991?
-
Sometimes news of one another going-ons just don't reach the desired party in time. Even to this day, hiccups like these still happen.Originally posted by Jazzswing:Oh...Malaysia and Indonesia huh? How was there miscommunication i wonder. Was it a silent mobilisation back in 1991? -
the kota tinggi one right???.... heard why sg so serious that time is that they got news they are having the exercise with LIVE ROUND...so everyone also worri lor.. especially those kena mob one.. some fully armed and on tonner waiting to move out already.. haha and we were are happily singing.. Count on me singapore in NDP. hahaOriginally posted by ditzy:Well, actually its a miss communication thingie. You see, back then 2 neighbouring countries were supposed to be conducting their joint excercise together and apparently communications of the going-ons failed to reach our country in time so thats why they thought and we think. -
So the govt thought they were planning a disguised attack? Or felt it was a political thing having excercises during our national day.Originally posted by I-like-flings(m):the kota tinggi one right???.... heard why sg so serious that time is that they got news they are having the exercise with LIVE ROUND...so everyone also worri lor.. especially those kena mob one.. some fully armed and on tonner waiting to move out already.. haha and we were are happily singing.. Count on me singapore in NDP. haha -
Lets just say, precautionary measures.Originally posted by Jazzswing:So the govt thought they were planning a disguised attack? Or felt it was a political thing having excercises during our national day. -
refering to the time when msia and indonesia had a big scale ex tt culminated somewhere i think in kota tinggi on our n-day? ex malindo darsasa?
-
but really... its just plain RUDE to conduct a military exercise at your neighbour's doorstep during their national day...
can u imagine: their respective foreign ministries would be drafting a congratulatory msg for our national day while their respective mindefs are planning to despatch troops and supply live rounds to the troops dropping off in parachutes not far from our borders...
like if u saw a naked guy in your living room, what are u supposed to think even if u didn't see him screwing your wife???
it was probably a test on Sg's resolve if u ask me... and i'm glad we shoved it at them even if it was a " miscommunication " ... -
haha ya i agreed.. haha any old man here was one of those lucky one to kena the mob??? come share your story leh. hahaOriginally posted by CX:but really... its just plain RUDE to conduct a military exercise at your neighbour's doorstep during their national day...
can u imagine: their respective foreign ministries would be drafting a congratulatory msg for our national day while their respective mindefs are planning to despatch troops and supply live rounds to the troops dropping off in parachutes not far from our borders...
like if u saw a naked guy in your living room, what are u supposed to think even if u didn't see him screwing your wife???
it was probably a test on Sg's resolve if u ask me... and i'm glad we shoved it at them even if it was a "miscommunication" ... -
Cdo were on the shores of m'sia by 00:00hrs but were extracted when the msg was thru after the matter has been clarified...
-
Originally posted by stiletto+edge:Cdo were on the shores of m'sia by 00:00hrs but were extracted when the msg was thru after the matter has been clarified...
-
Originally posted by wuming78: x2..... u mean we invaded m'sia?? haha
-
as far as i noe there was oni a mobOriginally posted by I-like-flings(m): x2..... u mean we invaded m'sia?? haha -
ya that is why i heard too...only fully armed and ready to GO only.. haha not WENT..Originally posted by wuming78:as far as i noe there was oni a mob
-
u mean that there's a decon2 and gs dispatch its recon element?Originally posted by stiletto+edge:Cdo were on the shores of m'sia by 00:00hrs but were extracted when the msg was thru after the matter has been clarified...
-
Motive behind misreading of book on SAF
by David Boey
BILATERAL ties between Singapore and Malaysia have gone through a bad patch
lately, with verbal spats turning distinctly belligerent. Malaysian Foreign
Minister Syed Hamid Albar said on Dec 31 last year: 'Singapore has two choices:
If it refuses to compromise, go to war.'
Adding to the strain were reports in Malaysian newspapers that used extracts
from a book by British academic Tim Huxley, titled Defending The Lion City: The
Armed Forces Of Singapore, out of context.
Dr Huxley supervised my master's dissertation on Singapore's defence policy
when I studied at the University of Hull in England several years ago. The
preface of his contentious book cites a Singaporean journalist who 'contributed
substantially to my knowledge of the subject'.
I am the journalist mentioned. I will point out later how his book has been
misread. But first, some comments on Singapore-Malaysia political
brinkmanship.
A similarly tense period occurred in 1991 when Malaysia and Indonesia staged
joint military manoeuvres, code-named Exercise Malindo Darsasa 3AB, on
peninsular Malaysia from July to August. This was then the largest military
exercise between Malaysia and Indonesia.
The highlight of the exercise involved dropping paratroops in southern Johor,
just 18 km from Singapore's border. The airborne landing site was just minutes
away by car from the Causeway.
From Singapore's perspective, the exercise was seen as a deliberate ploy to
test how the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) would react to a large-scale military
exercise on its doorstep.
And lest Singapore's defence planners missed the message, the airdrop was
codenamed Pukul Habis (Malay for 'Total Wipeout'). It was also executed with
unprecedented proximity to Singapore on Aug 9 - Singapore's National Day.
MOBILISATION
SINGAPORE responded by launching an Open Mobilisation Exercise at 5.30 pm on
National Day eve. In those pre-Internet days, the exercise was widely
publicised on Singapore's television and radio news on Aug 8 and received Page
One treatment in local newspapers on Aug 9 - the day on which the Pukul Habis
airdrop took place.
Fast forward to Sunday, Jan 26, 2003. The SAF conducts its second Open Mobex
for 2003. This was barely a fortnight after the year's first Open Mobex on Jan
11.
Since Singapore's first Open Mobex was held on July 8, 1985, there have been
only two instances when Mindef held such exercises twice in the same month - in
June 1987 and in May 1988.
The latest mobilisation was notable as it was held one day after Foreign
Minister S. Jayakumar made his landmark parliamentary speech on
Singapore-Malaysia relations.
The drill also coincided with Malaysia's apparent bid that same weekend to hike
up military activity in Johor. After weeks of provocative talk, the Malaysians
used a Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) career expo in Johor to display some of the
MAF's firepower.
The SAF rarely mobilises troops on a Sunday. And when it accords full media
coverage for the exercise, one can sense that Singapore's Ministry of Defence
(Mindef) wants its deterrent message heard loud and clear.
The Open Mobex publicity, when augmented with moves to quietly enhance the
SAF's defence readiness, represents a carefully-controlled, measured approach
to warn outsiders of Singapore's readiness to deal with military
contingencies.
Singapore cannot allow itself to be desensitised to bellicose talk or hyped-up
military activity close to its border. If it chooses not to respond to such
unneighbourly activity, Singapore risks sending a signal that war-like remarks
will be tolerated - or worse, that the city-state has been cowed into silence -
everytime the tone of language used breaches accepted behaviour among erstwhile
friends.
Now back to Dr Huxley's contentious book.
The book is not new. It was published in early 2000 and has since gone through
five print runs of 2,000 copies each. When it first hit the bookshelves, it
attracted hardly any attention in the Malaysian media or academic community.
Defence watchers should also note that the Johor scenario - that the SAF would
invade Johor and defeat the MAF in a matter of hours - is not new either. Dr
Huxley first published his thoughts on this scenario way back in 1991 in an
article in The Pacific Review titled 'Singapore and Malaysia: A Precarious
Balance?'.
MISCHIEVOUS MOTIVE
IT'S fine to trawl up a two-year-old book to give a fresh spin to articles on
Singapore-Malaysia defence relations. But when a critical point in the analysis
is glossed over, one cannot help but start to doubt the motives of the
writers.
That critical point concerns the SAF's strategy of deterrence.
At no point in the book did Dr Huxley conclude that the SAF would be used as an
occupation force in a war of conquest.
To suggest what the author has not intended, or to perceive something that the
text clearly does not say, is mischievous and intellectually dishonest.
If this is the way Malaysian commentators react to what I and others think is
an impartial study on the SAF, then Singaporeans should brace themselves for
more fiery, yet lop-sided diatribes when new additions like AH-64D Apache
attack choppers, 155mm self-propelled heavy artillery and stealth frigates are
added to the SAF's arsenal in due course.
In his book, Dr Huxley spells out the strategy of deterrence clearly. He says:
'The key to understanding Singapore's strategy, though, is that the SAF's clear
capability to inflict severe damage on Malaysia (by implication, creating
serious political and economic repercussions for Singapore) is not intended to
be used. The capability is a deterrent - a sort of regional 'doomsday machine'
intended to manipulate Singapore's regional threat environment by forcing
neighbouring states to treat the city-state with a degree of respect and
caution which might otherwise be absent.'
It is ironic that the kinship Singapore values with Malaysia, which is perhaps
best underscored by the Malayan Tiger sharing pride of place with the Singapore
Lion on Singapore's Coat of Arms, has been so taken for granted in the frequent
games of political brinkmanship.
The writer is a Business Times correspondent. He contributed this article to The
Straits Times -
it'll be like the time the Brits stormed the coast of spain after their ship got lost and thought they were in gibralter...
maybe we can pull a fast one and say we thought we were in pedra branca -
CJ wrote that article one year ago, I can't find it in this forum, I keep a copy of it and posting it here for all again.
-
Defending the Lion City by Tim Huxley is a really good read. Trust me on that. I didn't finish reading it but the selected chapters I read were well written.
-
its a little out of date liao lah... time for a new edition Tim...Originally posted by ditzy:Defending the Lion City by Tim Huxley is a really good read. Trust me on that. I didn't finish reading it but the selected chapters I read were well written. -
Cannot be helped lah, things get out of date easily in this era. I dun think he wants to be made famous by malaysia again anyway.Originally posted by CX:its a little out of date liao lah... time for a new edition Tim... -
Thanks for the article cavsg, nice reading.
-
Storm our own troops!!Originally posted by CX:it'll be like the time the Brits stormed the coast of spain after their ship got lost and thought they were in gibralter...
maybe we can pull a fast one and say we thought we were in pedra branca
We already have a military detachment over the little rock.
